Cutting Down Countdown

dingdongsaving

This is going to be my own little diary as I embark on a journey towards an exciting new personal & family journey. (Possibly!)

Our family dream of living in the middle of nowhere is a reality, but my hubby and I both work full time and juggle a lot of responsibility at work & our two precious babies.

At the moment we stagger our days off, and I look after the children at the weekends & he looks after them on 2 weekdays. It works well, but there's a definite piece of our countryside 'dream' missing, and I think it's that my heart's not that of a career woman but a country mummy.

In fact, the possibility of admitting this is a bit scary, and I'm dragging the 'lead-in' to this possible new life (without a career!) for months and months just to make sure we (ok, I!) can survive and we (ok, I!) really do want to make it happen. :rotfl:

The short of it:
I don't have to work for us to have the current cars, home and general expenses we have. We'd only have to cut out extras/luxuries that we've become accustomed to because we've been able to.

Eeeeek! Looking forwards!
We're very organised, both pretty good at cooking and working from monthly meal plans, set budgets based on our incomes & stick to them & have a cycle of checking our expenditures on fluctuating resources such as electricity, car insurance, life insurance etc etc already in place.

BUT, I'm not one for major risk taking, so from this point onwards I'm going to be tracking spending as though my income is non existent, and if we can manage it, I'll be handing in my notice by the end of the year and a stay at home mummy for 2017. Phew. There, I SAID IT!!!

Planning on growing lots more fruit and veg this year compared to previous years, and hoping to get some chooks in the longer term. Need to perfect batch-cooking and bulk buying to maximise the power of our pennies too.

Hubby's def. saying not to panic and that this is an opportunity and not scary, but I'm either panicking or superbly excited as it's all I can think about!!!!!!!

In reality I can hand in my notice at any point, so the plan is flexible...which is why hubby's not panicking.

I'll let you know how we get on week-by-week. I know it may sound silly to some, but please join us on this journey if you're interested and can offer your usual expertise and support.

I also feel like I should add three extra bits of information here: 1) A dear friend of mine lost her husband yesterday with no warning. 2) My cousin is currently in IC after an unexpected operation & we've been told the next few days are critical. 3) My mum & dad worked their socks off until retirement only for my dad to become ill and pass away. Yep, sometimes life sucks, & we choose enjoying every second we can to the best of our ability before our time is up. :smileyhea

Thank you! Here goes!:j

monnagran

Dingdong: how exciting! I have no doubt at all that you cope very well with all the financial and practical changes you will be making. You seem to be super prepared. All you are really doing is swapping the luxury of financial security for the luxury of having time to enjoy your home and family and to live the life of your dreams.

If you read through this forum you will find that most of us have long years of experience of making every penny do the work of a pound and are proud of it. You will almost certainly not be able to tell which posters are financially comfortable and which are just about scraping by. In fact those who are hanging on by the skin of their teeth are often the most joyous and upbeat people.

I spent 40 years, give or take, in the classroom and loved it but I love retirement more!

Go for it! We will all be cheering you on.

dingdongsaving

Thank you! That is so true!

june89

I dream of being a country wife (no kids, unfortunately) too. I quit my well paid job last year due to the commute and while I would take a new role if it came up locally, we have not missed the extra money at all. Savings build up slower than they used to, but that's about it.

Good luck! :money:

bexster1975

Hello and welcome. What an interesting journey you are embarking on. I'm sorry to hear of recent bad news. It certainly focuses the mind on what is important. I shall follow with interest.

Bexster

dingdongsaving

Wow, it's been a while & I've been around, & enjoying each day & moment of family time.

Here's an update on our little mission:

We completed our April and May (we run to 18th-17th of each month now) & have managed to be within budget in every area. Our predicted 'to save' amount has been saved ready to fund our new life change, & there appears to be no stopping our motivation! :T

In terms of groceries we've been do a monthly meal plan for a long time, shop very carefully, never waste any food & have a huge list of go-to recipes that we all love as a family...but we've managed to save even more money by stretching things a little further & always using dinner to fund lunch the next day instead of just sometimes.

Nothing else going on really...just lots (& lots!) of gardening as we have quite a dot of land tucked away in the woods.

Right, we're off for a final play in the garden. Hubby's off this weekend too, so a lovely family weekend to start half term. :j

How are you all? All the best with your projects & dreaming to you! :coffee::www:

candygirl

Sounds like a fantastic plan hun.We also had a bereavement yesterday, n it really does put things in perspective

jk0

I clicked on this thread thinking it was about watching less Channel 4 in the afternoons.

suki1964

I've been so fortunate to have been living the dream the last ten years

We don't have a lot of land, a fair sized garden. We have 12 hens and we grow as much of our own as we can. I scratch cook mostly everything, still buy bread and things like tinned beans, and can always stretch a meal to another portion or so for the freezer or lunch

When I first stopped working full time 17 years ago it was a pure leap of faith. Actually I had had a breakdown and although work were very good at taking me back on a staggered return, I couldn't cope so decided to leave. So I went from a good wage and pension pot to ZILCH

And funnily enough, our lifestyle didn't change one bit. Because I was home money was saved left right and centre because I had the time to find the best deals, get the best value and to cook from scratch etc etc

I found this site in 2004. I was looking at one of my first posts here from then, the first ever grocery challenge. I was looking to cut down from £40 a week for 2 adults. ( tin of toms was 17p then ) 12 years on I now feed 3 adults for around £35, plus kids and grandkids whenever they land, which is pretty often

There's so much inspiration on these boards, I read daily most of the threads even if I don't always post. Old style is now second nature to me and the best of all is DH is now behind me all the way. He will now look in charity shops and buy, something he refused to do for years and would give off at me for doing. And he recycles and up cycles everything. This year alone he's made a garden bench from a railway sleeper, a garden table from a cable drum, a slide and wendyhouse from bits and pieces he's managed to find( including a sheet of stainless steel left over from the pubs kitchen refit) and our chicken house and our pizza oven

Good luck with it all. The best thing about living like this if the family time we have now. Kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, in laws , turn up as and when and its never any bother/hassle. Spare rooms are always ready, always something in the fridge/freezer/cupboards I can make a meal out of, no last minute dashes to the supermarket or making beds up last minute.

So we won't ever be rich but then as they say here, there's no pockets in shrouds

milasavesmoney

Lovely goal that I will be following. Subscribed.

Goldiegirl

jk0 wrote: »

I clicked on this thread thinking it was about watching less Channel 4 in the afternoons.

:rotfl::rotfl: